Biographies of Wyandotte County, Kansas

WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KANSAS

BIOGRAPHIES

JUDGE GEORGE MONAHAN.-There is no lawyer in the state of Kansas who has a higher standing than ex-Judge Monahan. He has had an interesting career, but throughout it all no one has been able to cast any aspersions on his character, either in a private or a public capacity. Since his first entry into the field of law he has set himself to run the course with singleness of purpose, his goal being not fame for himself, but the performance of his duty. To such, honors will come with-out being sought, $s indeed they have to Mr. Monahan, but in his mind the contentment which comes with the knowledge of a life well spent means much more than the positions of honor which he has filled.

George Monahan was born in Scotland, February 19, 1846. He was the son of James and Sarah (McCahan) Monahan, both natives of Scotland, where they brought up their twelve children, five of whom are living now. Mr. Monahan died in Scotland and his widow came to America with her children and died in Wilmington, Illinois, where she is buried. The names of the children are as follows: John, Margaret, James, Sarah, Peter, William, George, Hugh, Mary, Robert, Andrew and Janet.

George Monahan was the seventh child, which according to the old Scottish superstition was a lucky thing for him. He attended the Scotch public schools, which are better than the public schools of any country in Europe, and later studied law although he did not practice in his native country. After his father's death the family decided they would come to America and try their fortunes in the new world of which they had heard so much. Accordingly, in 1869T they bade farewell to their native land, to their home among the hills, to the friends of their childhood, to the grave of the father who was buried there and took steamer for America. They located at Wilmington, Illinois, where the mother, grieving for her Scotch home, died and was buried. John and George went the following spring to Kansas, where they bought a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Clay county. After a short time George decided that farming was not in his line and he turned the farm over to his brother, in whose family it still remains. He himself began the practice of law, which he carried on successfully and was later police judge and justice of the peace. In 1885 he came to Wyandotte county, locating at Armourdale, where he engaged in the hotel and restaurant business, but after two years' experience in that line he sold out and gave his time exclusively to his law work. In 1891 he bought thirty acres of land, in addition to the four and a half acres he had been holding for some time. This land was not under cultivation, but he has made wonderful improvements and now it is well tilled and contains modern buildings. He has recently moved on to this farm, where he can live the simple life after his arduous tasks. Soon after the sale of his hotel and restaurant he was elected justice of the peace and before his term expired he was elected probate judge, to which office he was chosen three consecutive times, his last term expiring in January, 1895.
On June 20, 1882, he married Elizabeth Kelly in Osage county, Kansas. Elizabeth was born in England and was the daughter of Patrick and Margaret Kelly; her father was of Irish descent and died in England aged sixty-four. Mrs. Kelly's maiden name was Neville and she was of Norman descent. She came to America with her three children, Mary, Thomas and Elizabeth in 1876. They lived in St. Louis one year, in Atchison, Kansas, for one year and then in Osage county. Mrs. Kelly died in 1910 and is buried in Calvary cemetery, Kansas City, Kansas, aged eighty-eight years. Judge and Mrs. Monahan have one daughter, Mary, who was born in Osage county and lives at home with her parents.

The judge may well feel satisfied with his life, for it has been of great use, not only to his family, but to the community at large. He is a man of great influence in the county and one who is a power for betterment. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 688-690)

C. B. STEVENS, D. V. S.-The professional career of Dr. Charles B. Stevens, who is a prominent veterinary surgeon at Rosedale, Kansas, excites the admiration and has won the respect of all who know him and in a calling in which one has to gain prestige by merit alone, he has advanced steadily until he is recognized as one of the foremost members of his profession in the entire state of Kansas. He has ever evinced a deep and sincere interest in community affairs and as a citizen his loyalty and public spirit have ever been of the most insistent order. In addition to an extensive practice throughout Wyandotte county Dr. Stevens is well known in Jackson county, where his services have been required on different occasions.

Dr. Charles B. Stevens is a native of the fine old Wolverine state of the Union, his birth having occurred in Clinton county, Michigan, on the 9th of March, 1860. At the age of six years he accompanied his parents on their removal to Port Scott, Kansas, where the family home was maintained for the ensuing four years. Removal was then made to Lamar, Missouri, and thence to Nevada, Missouri, in 1872. In 1874 the family returned to Michigan, where the father, B. E. Stevens, was engaged in veterinary surgery during the remainder of his life, his demise having occurred in the year 1894, as a result of injuries received in a wreck of the Big Four railroad fifteen miles from St. Johns, Michigan. The mother of the subject of this review was May Britton in her girlhood days and she was summoned to the life eternal in 1886. The father was born in Massachusetts and after being graduated in a veterinary college at Montreal, Canada, he entered upon the practice of his profession. During his residence in Fort Scott he was in the employ of the government and for a time he was associated in a partnership alliance with Dr. Geo. W. Diamond in the livery business.

The third in order of birth in a family of nine children, Dr. Charles B. Stevens received his educational training in the different cities in which the family home was maintained during his early youth. In 1876 he left Michigan and returned to Nevada, Missouri, where he had formerly lived, and in that place he remained until he had attained to the age of twenty-six years. He had long been associated with his father in the latter's work and in that way had acquired a great deal of knowledge in connection with veterinary surgery. In 1902 he took the examination in the veterinary college, at Kansas City and in that institution was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. He had been engaged in the practice of this profession previously to his graduation, however, and has now been identified with this particular line of work for a period of twenty-five years. As a youth he learned the harness maker's trade and he also is a carriage trimmer, along which lines of enterprise he has worked a great deal. In connection with his professional work he carries a line of harness and his place of business is located at 1180, Kansas City avenue, at Rosedale. Dr. Stevens is well known throughout Wyandotte and Jackson counties and he is everywhere accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens, who honor him for his sterling integrity and worth.

At Nevada, Missouri, on the 20th of May, 1886, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Stevens to Miss Catherine Patton, who was born and reared at Goodland, Indiana, and who is a daughter of T. R. Patton. Dr. and Mrs. Stevens have no children. They are consistent members of the Methodist church South, in their religious faith and are popular and prominent factors in connection with the best social activities of Rosedale.

Dr. Stevens is affiliated with Vernon Lodge, No. 194, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and for a time he was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is an unswerving advocate of the cause of the Democratic party and while he does not participate actively in public affairs he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general welfare. The Doctor is an old time horseman, having been a jockey in his younger days. In this connection he was well known in National horse racing circles and during his early life in the west he was well acquainted with the James boys, the Younger brothers and other notorious characters, hence the more credit to him for having lived an exemplary life and having held aloof from their practices. Dr. Stevens has traveled extensively, is a man of broad and definite information and in the various walks of life has so conducted himself as to win the full confidence and esteem of his fellow men. He is a man of generous impulse and his charity knows only the bounds of his opportunities. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 690-691)

JOEL O. KINDRED.-Although a Kentuckian by birth, the life of Joel Kindred is bound up with the history of Wyandotte county. He is a farmer who has lived a life of usefulness to the county for many years. His honesty and integrity are irreproachable. His interest in public affairs is unbounded. His fraternal relations are of the highest character, while his private life is absolutely blameless and his whole career will bear the closest scrutiny.

Joel C. Kindred was born in Kentucky, August 26, 1863. He is the son of Sylvester Kindred and Mary Perry, his wife. Sylvester Kindred was born on a farm in Kentucky and there he spent his life, farming, raising corn and cotton, vegetables and cattle. He is still living there, but he is too old now (1911) to do any active work, as he is over eighty years of age. He is a Democrat and still takes a great interest in politics. He is a Christian, as the tenor of his life bears evidence. In 1910 his wife, the loved partner of his youth, his prime and his old age, left his side and has crossed over to await him on the other side. He has not lost his interest in this life, but he is looking forward to the time when he can join her. They have been blessed with six children, Alice, Louise, Enoch, Thomas, Joel and Robert.

Joel C. Kindred's earliest recollections are connected with the farm in Kentucky where he drew his first breath. For the first few years of his life this farm formed his world; his parents and brothers and sister were its sole occupants. Later he Went to the district school. When he was a very small boy it was his delight to help his father in performing his daily duties; he became familiar with every foot of the farm; he knew every animal and every tree on the whole plantation. He stayed at home until he was twenty-one, when he made up his mind that he would start out on his own account. It never occurred to him to be anything but a farmer, as he loved the life which kept him close to nature. He came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, in 1884, and in 1890 he had made enough money to buy the farm on which he now lives. He raises potatoes, cabbage and general market vegetables.

On January 12, 1887, he married Katharine Magee. She was the daughter of Mason and Harriet Magee, who were Missouri farmers. When Katharine was two years old they brought her to Kansas and Mr. Magee farmed in Wyandotte county until he died, in 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Kindred have had ten children: Elbert M., who is living in Colorado; Flora A.; Martin S.; Robert P.; John D.; Prank O.; Elzira B., who died in infancy; Edna O.; Luther W.; and Dock.

Joel C. Kindred is a Democrat and is a very active politician. He has served six successive years as trustee of Delaware township and has served as treasurer of the school board for nine years. He is a member of four fraternal orders: the Knights of Pythias, Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a director in the Farmer's State Bank at Bonner Springs Mr. Kindred, from the time he first came to Kansas, has done all he could for the good of the county. He is especially interested in children and, having a large family himself, he understands the needs and requirements of child nature.(History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 691-692)

INGRAM J. TALBOTT is a native son of Kansas and has here attained to definite prestige and success in the practice of law in Wyandotte county, within whose borders he has resided since his boyhood days, and where he controls a large and important practice. Both by reason of his personal standing in the community and on the score of being a scion of one of the well known and highly honored pioneer families of the Sunflower state, Mr. Talbott is well entitled to recognition in this volume.

Ingram J. Talbott was born in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, on the 3rd of August, 1873, and is the only child of Albert G. and Nellie (Tabor) Talbott, the former of whom was born at Greencastle, Putnam county, Indiana, in 1846, and the latter of whom was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The mother died at the age of twenty-two years, when her only son was an infant, and the father later married Miss Jennie Gray, of Leavenworth, Kansas, who survives him, as do also their two sons and four daughters. Albert G. Talbott passed the closing years of his life in Kansas City, this state, where his death occurred in 1901. He received limited educational advantages in his native state and when but twelve years of age he left his home in Indiana in company with his father, his mother having died, and went to California, where the gold excitement was then at its height. He embarked on a vessel in the port of New York city and the voyage to the New Eldorado on the Pacific coast was made by way of the Isthmus of Panama. In California he attained to adult age and there he eventually accumulated a very appreciable fortune through his identification with gold mining. With such fortification he finally established himself in business in San Francisco as a money broker, and through this venture, together with unfortunate investments in mining stocks, he lost the fortune which he had previously gained, in the amount of about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. A man of invincible courage and indefatigable energy, he was not dismayed by these reverses, but boldly set forth to retrieve his fortune so far as possible. He went to Idaho, where he gained further experience in connection with frontier life. Alert in discerning opportunities, he secured from Ada county, that state, which was still a territory, a charter for the construction and maintenance of a toll wagon road from Boise City, in the valley of the Boise river, to Idaho City, a mining town in the mountains, the charter being given to cover a period of twenty years. He initiated the work of construction on the 4th of March, 1865, and by the first of May he had the road completed and open to the public, as fine a wagon road as could be found in any mountainous district. By the 1st of November of the same year his tolls had been sufficient to defray the cost of construction and give him a profit of twenty thousand dollars. In the month last mentioned a disastrous fire practically obliterated the business portion of Idaho City, and under these conditions, necessarily entailing at least a temporary reduction in the revenues from the toll road, Mr. Talbott sold the property and charter to Henry Greathouse, one of the principal stockholders of the Oregon & Idaho Stage Company. In April, 1866, he set forth from Boise City, in a train of twenty wagons and teams, for Fort Benton, Montana, then at the head of navigation on the Missouri river. He reached his destination on the 14th of May and then took passage on one of the little river steamers, the "St. John," for Omaha, Nebraska. On reaching that place he invested his capital, on the advice of friends, and the result was another heavy financial loss to him. He later took passage on a steamer going south and he eventually visited all of the more important cities of the South. In February, 1868, while in New Orleans, he was in somewhat of a quandary as to whether he would better return to California or Leavenworth, Kansas, and he finally decided to leave the decision to chance, whose aid he invoked by the tossing up of a coin. The dictum was in favor of Leavenworth, and on the 1st of April he embarked on a packet boat, with that city as his destination.

Soon after his arrival in Leavenworth Mr. Talbott secured a position on the old Leavenworth Bulletin, at that time one of the leading newspapers in the state, and in this connection he rendered most valuable service in promoting the election of Hon. A. Caldwell to the United States Senate. Upon the consolidation of the Leavenworth Times and Leavenworth Bulletin, in the spring of 1872, he became a member of the advertising staff of the new paper, and after the same was purchased by Colonel D. R. Anthony he was retained in this position, from which he was soon afterward promoted to that of business manager. He did much to further the success of this newspaper and through his association with the same, gained a wide acquaintanceship among the representative men of the state. In October 1878, he resigned* his position and located in Edwards county, this state, where he was engaged in the real estate and insurance business until April, 1880, on the 14th of which month he established his home in the old city of Wyandotte, the nucleus of the present thriving metropolis and judicial center of Wyandotte county. Here he soon became associated with L. H. Wood in the real estate and insurance business, under the firm name of Wood & Talbott, and in 1882 he sold his interest in the enterprise to his partner to become special agent for Kansas of the Continental Fire Insurance Company of New York, in the interests of which he traveled extensively throughout the state during the ensuing three years, within which he built up a large and substantial business for the company. His final resignation was made on account of his impaired health, and in 1885 he again engaged in the real estate business in Wyandotte. In the preceding year he was elected a member of the Republican state central committee of Kansas, and in the same he was chosen one of the five members of the executive committee that so successfully planned and directed the campaign that resulted in the election of Hon. John Martin to the office of governor of the state. For many years he was a valued and influential factor in connection with the maneuvering of political forces in Kansas, and he was specially prominent in the wise ordering of public affairs in Wyandotte county. His broad views, strong personality and sterling integrity made him a natural leader in thought and action, and he never was denied the fullest measure of popular confidence and approbation. He was a great admirer of the old Whig party but found in its virtual successor, the Republican party, an economic vehicle equally worthy of his stanch support. He was signally true in all the relations of life, was every ready to aid in movements and enterprises tending to advance the best interests of his home city, county and state, and his name merits an enduring place on the roster of the sterling pioneers of Kansas.

Ingram J. Talbott was about seven years of age at the time of the family removal from Leavenworth to what is now Kansas City, and here he was reared to manhood. His early educational discipline was secured in the public schools of the old city of Wyandotte and in preparation for the work of his chosen profession he entered the Kansas City (Missouri) School of Law, in which he completed the prescribed course and in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1906, duly receiving his well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He has since been engaged in the general practice of law in Kansas City, Kansas, and he controls a large and representative business. Reared in the faith of the Republican party, he has never wavered in his allegiance thereto, and he has given efficient service in behalf of its cause, though he has deemed his profession well worthy of his undivided attention and thus has shown no ambition for the honors or emoluments of public office. He is identified with the Knights of Pythias and other social organizations and his popularity in his home city is of the most unequivocal order.
Mr. Talbott was united in marriage to Miss Pearl Brayton, who was born and reared in Kansas City, Kansas, and who is a popular factor in the social activities of the community which has ever represented her home. The issue of this union is a son, Jack W. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 692-694)

RUSSELL A. ALGIRE.-As state agent for Kansas of the National Surety Company of New York, with headquarters in Kansas City, Kansas, Mr. Algire holds an office of marked importance and responsibility and his incumbency of the same affords the best evidence of his execi* tive ability and sterling personal characteristics.

Mr. Algire finds a due mede of satisfaction in reverting to the Sunflower state as the place of his nativity and to the fact that he is a representative of a family whose name has been linked with its historysince the pioneer days. He was born at Wellington, Sumner county, Kansas, on the 24th of November, 1879, and is a son of Willard and Lillian (Topping) Algire, the former of whom was born in Sangamon county, Illinois, and the latter in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. The parents now reside in Kansas City, this state, and of their two children Russell A., is the elder; the younger son, George W., is now engaged In contracting in Kansas City, Missouri. Willard Algire was reared and educated in Illinois, whence he came to Kansas in 1877 and numbered himself among the pioneers of Sumner county, where he secured from the government a homestead claim of one hundred and sixty acres of land, near the present village of Belleplaine. He gave his attention to the development and improvement of his farm for a period of five years, at the expiration of which he sold the property and removed to Van Buren county, Iowa, where he continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits until 1884, when he removed to Payetteville, Washington county, Arkansas, in which state he continued to maintain his residence until 1909, when he came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he has since lived virtually retired. He is aligned as a stanch supporter of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor, is affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and both he and his wife hold membership in the Christian church.

Russell A. Algire is indebted to the public schools of Fayetteville, Arkansas, for his early educational privileges, which were supplemented by a course of higher academic study in the University of Arkansas. In 1898 he located in Kansas City, Missouri, and for the following year he was there employed as a representative of the National Surety Company, of New York city. He then assumed the responsible position of traveling passenger agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with headquarters in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. After retaining this position three years he again entered the employ of the National Surety Company, with headquarters at St. Louis, Missouri. In 1907 he established his residence in Kansas City, Kansas, as state agent for the same company, of which office he has since remained incumbent and in which he has built up a substantial business for the concern. He has shown marked executive and administrative ability and has enlisted the co-operation of sub-agents of {he highest order. He is recognized as one of the representative insurance men of the state and is held in high esteem in both business and social circles in his home city. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the order of Moose, and his political allegiance is given without reservation to the Republican party.

On the 9th of June, 1909, Mr. Algie was united in marriage to Miss Cecilia McEvilley, who was born and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio, and who is a daughter of Peter and Mary McEvilley, who still reside in that city and both of whom were born in Ireland. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 694-695)

JONATHAN H. LASLEY.-One of the sterling and highly honored citizens given to Wyandotte county by the stanch old Buckeye state is this well known resident of Kansas City, where he has maintained his home since 1880 and where he is now engaged in the active work of his profession, that of civil engineer. In this connection he has done a large amount of important service in this section of the state, especially during his incumbency of the office of county surveyor of Wyandotte county, and in his varied relations as a citizen he has shown the same intrinsic loyalty that prompted him to go forth as a soldier of the Union when the integrity of the nation was thrown into jeopardy through armed rebellion.

Jonathan II. Lasley was born on a farm in Gallia county, Ohio, on the 24th of February, 1840, and is the eldest of the eight sons of Matthew and Rebecca (Eakin) Lasley, the former of whom was born in Ohio, a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of that state, and the latter of whom was born at Darlington, Beaver county, Pennsylvania. The father passed the closing years of his life in Cass county, Missouri, where he died at the age of sixty-one years. His wife survived him by more than two decades and was eighty-one years of age when she was summoned to the life eternal. All of the sons are still living and the five elder sons were all members of Ohio regiments in the Civil war, namely: Jonathan H., Joseph, David, Matthew and James. The other three sons, who were too young for such service, are William, Homer and Alonzo. The father was a man of marked business capacity and mature judgment. He became the owner of five hundred acres of land in Ohio, where he also did effective work as a surveyor. In 1871 he removed to Cass county, Missouri, where he became the owner of more than seven hundred acres of land and where he continued to be successfully identified with farming and stock raising until his death. Well equipped for leadership in thought and action, he was called upon to serve in various local offices of trust, including that of township treasurer, of which he was incumbent for fifteen years. In politics he was originally an old time Whig, but he allied himself with the Republican party at the time of its organization and thereafter continued an enthusiastic supporter of its cause.
Jonathan H. Lasley was reared to maturity in his native county, where he was afforded the advantages of the common schools of Gallipolis, the county seat, and he attained to his legal majority at the time when the Civil war was precipitated upon a divided nation. On October 1, 1861, he showed his intrinsic patriotism by enlisting as a private in Company A, Fifty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he was mustered into the United States service on the 26th of October, 1861. He was with his regiment in all the skirmishes and battles in which it was involved up to and including the memorable battle of Shiloh, in which he was severely wounded in the left thigh. He received a compound fracture of the thigh and was thus disabled for further active service in the field. He was second lieutenant of his company at the time he received this injury, and later, in recognition of his gallant services, he was given the rank of captain by the governor of Ohio. He received his honorable discharge, on account of physical disability, in September, 1864, and soon afterward he was elected county surveyor of his native county, having previously gained practical experience in this line of work under the direction of his honored father. He retained this office two years, at the expiration of which, in 1866, he came to Missouri. He taught the first term of school in the village of Pleasanthill, Cass county, that state, and after having been thus engaged for a period of three months he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and stock raising, with which he continued to be actively identified in that county, for the ensuing twelve years. He then disposed of his property in Cass county and came to Wyandotte county, Kansas, where he has since maintained his home. Here he became deputy county surveyor and after thus serving four years he was elected county surveyor, of which position he continued the efficient and valued incumbent for six consecutive years. Thereafter, with residence in Kansas City, the county seat, he was engaged in the work of his profession as a civil engineer until 1903, when he was again elected county surveyor, in which office he served two terms. Extraordinary duties and responsibilities devolved upon him at this time, as in the year mentioned there occurred the most disastrous flood in the history of this section of the state. All the bridges on the Kaw river were carried away and he had charge of the building of new bridges throughout the county, a work which he performed with characteristic energy and efficiency. Since his retirement from office he has devoted his attention to his profession, and there is constant demand for his services in a consulting capacity, owing to his ability and long and practical experience.

In politics, as may naturally be inferred from his birthplace and military service, Mr. Lasley accords an unswerving allegiance to the Republican party, and he is well fortified in his convictions as to maters of public import. He is an appreciative and valued member of Burnside Post, No. 28, Grand Army of the Republic, and has been for many years affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Loyal Legion of Leavenworth.

On the 18th of January, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lasley to Miss Rachel A. Custer, who was born at Mountville, Loudoun county, Virginia, in which historic old commonwealth were also born her parents, Joel M. Custer and a Miss Bane, the former of whom is a cousin of General Custer, who lost his life in the historic Indian massacre that bears his name. Joel M. Custer, who is now (1911) in his eighty-sixth year, resides in Greenwood, Cass county, Missouri, where he has long maintained his home and where his devoted wife died a number of years ago. Of the five children Mrs. Lasley is the eldest. Mr. Custer was identified with agricultural pursuits in his native state, as he was later in Illinois, where he remained a few years, after which he removed to Cass county, Missouri, where he continued to be identified with the same great basic industry until the infirmities of advanced age impelled his retirement from active labors. He held the office of county commissioner for many years and as the duties of the office at that time included those of magistrate, he has long been familiarly known as Judge Custer. A scion of stanch old southern ancestry, he has never deviated in his allegiance to the Democratic party. Mr. and Mrs. Lasley became the parents of twelve children, of whom only five are now living: Charles 0., is a resident of Toledo, Ohio, and is a civil engineer by profession; Hallie, is a teacher in the Kansas City high school; Katherine, is on the editorial staff of the Hutchinson News, at Hutchinson, Kansas; Myrtle E., is the wife of Frederick W. Epps, of Kansas City, Kansas; and Miss Pearl remains at the parental home. All of these children were afforded excellent educational advantages and all are graduates of the University of Kansas. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 696-697)

JOHN W. FAUST, M. D.-The world instinctively pays deference to the man whose success has been worthily achieved and whose prominence is not the less the result of an irreproachable life than of natural talents and acquired ability in the field of his chosen labor. Dr. Faust occupies a position of distinction as a representative of the medical profession in Kansas City, Kansas, and the best evidence of his capability in the line of his chosen work is the large patronage which is accorded him.
A native of the fine old Empire state of the Union, Dr. John Wesley Faust was born at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county, New York, on the 10th of July, 1877. He was the fifth in order of birth in the family of eight children-four boys and four girls-born to Frederick J. and Frederica (Sorg) Faust, both of whom were born and reared in the great Empire of Germany. The mother died in September, 1891, and the father is now living at Kansas City, Kansas. Frederick J. Faust has devoted the major portion of his active career to the cooperage business.

After completing the curriculum of the public schools and of the high school of Poughkeepsie, New York, Dr. Faust was matriculated as a student in Cornell University, at Ithaca, New York, in which excellent institution he has graduated as a member of the class of 1900, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Subsequently he attended the New York City Medical College, in which he was graduated in 1903, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. Thereafter he served for two years as interne in the New York City Hospital and in the Willard Parker Hospital. In 1905 he decided to try his fortunes in the West, and in that year he immigrated to Temple, Texas, where he became connected with the Santa Fe Railroad Company's hospital. He remained in the Lone Star state but a short time, however, and in the latter part of 1905 he came to Kansas City, Kansas, where he has since maintained his home and' where he has succeeded in building up a large and lucrative patronage. He is engaged in the general practice of medicine but gives special attention to surgery, in connection with which he is a member of the staff of surgeons of Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, and of the staff of surgeons of St. Joseph's Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital, both of Kansas City, Missouri.

On the 31st of July, 1907, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Faust to Miss Minnie R. Muenzenmayer, who was reared and educated at Junction City, and who is a daughter of W. F. Muenzenmayer, the present mayor of Junction City, Kansas, and a prominent and influential business man at that place. Dr. and Mrs. Faust have two children: Doris Jessica Faust and J. Wesley Faust, Jr. They are devout members of the German Methodist Episcopal church and are popular factors in connection with the best social activities of Kansas City, where they are accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of their fellow citizens.

In his political convictions Dr. Faust is not aligned as a supporter of any special party as he maintains an independent attitude, preferring to give his vote to men and measures meeting with the approval of his judgment rather than to follow along strictly partisan lines. In connection with his life work he is affiliated with the Wyandotte County Medical Society, the Kansas State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. He is also connected with a number of fraternal and social organizations of representative character including his membership with the Elks, Knights of Pythias and the Masons. In all the relations of life he has so conducted himself as to command the highest regard of all with whom he has come in contact. (History of Wyandotte County, Kansas and It's People, by Perl W. Morgan, Vol. II, 1911, Pages 698-699)